The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 7, 1949, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE VOL. LXXIV., NO. 11,370 “ALL THE NEWS JUNEAU, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1949 ALL THE TIME” MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS Startling Testimony in Russian Atom Case DON'T GIVE UP ANY BASE INALEUTIANS Senator Magnuson Wants; Congress to Act on Pro- posed Abandonment WASHINGTON, Dec. 6—/@— Senator Magnuson (D-Wash) said today the Air Force should not shut down airbases in the Aleutians until Congress decides this shoula be done. The Senator told a reporter he has been informed the Air Force proposed deactivation of four small bases in the islands off Alaska be- cause of the necessity of keeping within its budget. “I pelieve,” Magnuson said, “the Air Force should delay the Aleu- tion deactivation until other con- solidations it is planning as econ- cmy measures are completed. Then Congress will be able to pass upon the merits of Air Force proposals to keep the Aleutian bases open be-| fore it becomes necegsary to close{ them. i “In view of the large sums being spent to arm Europe it is regrettable that we can't find enough money tc keep the Aleutian bases operat- ing.” Magnuson also predicted the ses-} sion of Congress opening next month will “be the busiest and most important” in years. He said he would seek a definite commitment for construction of the proposed $700,000,000 railroad from the United States through Canada to Alaska. He said he would also work for adequate defenses for the Terri- tory. STEAMER MOVEMENTS Baranof scheduled to sail from! Seattle Saturday. i : L VIRGINIA HAS YOUR NUMBER . . . Lovely Virginia Mayo, co-starring with Milton Berle in Warner Bros. “Always Leave Them Laughing,” reminds that it's automobile license time again as she presents the new 1950 Alaska plate. M. P. Mullaney, Territorial Tax Commissioner, has released the above picture showing Alaskas license plates for the year 1950 which - will be placed on sale January 3. The new license plates are of strong construction and are 5% inches wide and 12 inches long. The color scheime is arange and dark blue. Aliska’s flag and the numerals, etc., are dark blue and the background is orange. 1t had been hoped that we would be able to place the plates on sale by December 15, 1949, however, due to unforeseén fieve)opmznts and to causes beyond our control the date had to be extended to January 3. SUPPLIES FOR MILITARY T0 | Afom Projed Princess Norah due in port Fri- day 7:30 am. and sails south at 8:30 am. Denali due southbound Monday morning. : COME BY ARMY| early HAINES VISITOR Steve Homer of the MV Chilkoot of Haines is stopping at the (as-| tineau Hotel. VANCOUVER GUEST M. Roach of Vancouver is stopping at the Gastineau Hotel. The Washington| Merry - Go- Round Bv DREW PEARSON (Copyright, 1949, by Bell Syndicate, Inc.) msmNGTON—No men with bristling eyebrows glowered, snorted and shoutéd at each other last week when the Miners’ Welfare Fund Trustees met behind closed doors. They were John L. Lewis| and Charles Dawson, ex-federal judge of Louiseville, Ky., represent- ing the operators. In the middle sat Senator Styles Bridges of New Hampshire, neutral trustee. Calling the meeting to order, Lewis announced: “The people pre- sent today are Trustee Bridges, Trustee Lewis and Interloper Daw- Then Dawson tried to present his credentials, and Bridges moved to accept them. But Lewis rapped the table and called the roll. He spat out a surly “no”. Bridges voted “Yes.” Dawson also clamored but Lewis cut him off. This same routine was repeated over every question that came-up. Each time Dawson demanded to vote, and each time Lewis refused to recognize him. Lewis called him a “rank out- sider,” present only by “sufferance.” Dawson shouted back his right to be heard. Finally the meeting ad- journed. Nothing was accomplished, except that the two bushy-browed trustees were still sputtering at each other. 4 to vote, o Tllegal Air Treaties It was buried in- the financial sections of the big city newspapers, but one of the most important court decisions affecting the treaty-mak- ing power of the State Department was handed down last week. As a (Continued on Page Four) |‘Navy Unit af Sand Poin Will Be Transferred fo San Diego 4 | MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. Dec. 7 —(M—The job of flying military supplies from the Pacific northwest to Alaska is being taken over from Gave OK For Russ: Acheson, Uranium, Heavy Wafer Shipping Under License- | "Manhattan’ Knew All WASHINGTON Dez. T—#—Sec- | EIGHT YEARS AGO TODAY (By Associated Press) | Eight years ago today this | country was forced into World War {Two when the Japanese launched | their ruthless and destructive attack | on Pear] Harbor. And today, on the jeigh(h anniversary of Pearl Har- tor, this is how our military forces | look: We have a higger Air Force tha: | we had eight years ago. 7 Our Army and Navy are smaller, but each of those forces has a/big reserve of trained men. 4 A grim reminder of December Seventh 1941 still can be segh at| Pearl Harbor. The twisted guper- | structure of the battleship Arizona juts above the water. Many of her crew on that Sunday morning still |are entombed in the hulk. The Arizona rests where she fell—as'a| monument to the first Americans %0 die in World War Two. ! A small party went aboard the | half-sunk vessel today as a chap- i'lam said a prayer. ‘The Japanese, whose Naval fliers dealt the surprise blow at -Pearl { Harbor, however, weren’t remember- |ing. Nothing was done in Japan on | {this day to remind them. | Instead, the Japanese were wor- | rying akout a “day” of their own—- perhaps a “Tokyo Day.” Many| jamong them fear the cold war |will turn hot. That, they believe, would inevitably involve Japan. Japan never forgets the proximity |of Russfa. Now' Russia says it has! |added atomic weapons to its arsen- ‘al. ‘That makes Japan shiver. | In the Philippines to the south, {hatred of Japan remains still strong; ' | Filipinos cannot so soon forget the; iron reign of the Japanese con-" queror. The hostility is so great that the | Philippine Foreign Office is said to {have served notice on General | MacArthur it could not guarantee| |the safety of a proposed Japanese trade mission. [ The only observance of the day in the Pacific was at Pearl Harbor| itself. It was a simple service, held at the sad, rusting monument to| the day that thrust the United| States into the worst war in Lis- tory. (OL. CASTNER 4 ON SUNDAY | Blowup "Quonset” Hut This pneumatic Quonset hut, developed for use in Arctic area, can be inflated with a simple hand pump in three minutes. The Defense Department, which released this photograph, says the hut is snow, water and draft proof and has air-tight plexiglass windows; it can support about 500 pounds and can withstand winds of 100 miles an hour. The hose at left is an air duct for ventilation. (» Wirephoto. PROPERTY TAX CHALLENGED IN FAIRBANKS Fourth Tax Law Under Fife =Suit Charges “Dis- crimination” FAIRBANKS, Dec. 7—(P-—Alaska’s new Territorial Property Tax law has Leen challenged in the district Russ Ready, ArdicRegion For Conflid Chicago Tribune - Corre- spondent Reports on Military Bases, RR NEW ANGLE, TRIAL OF BRIDGES Witness Be_itrg Quizzed- Defense Claiming He is Liar CHICAGO, Dec. 7—(®—The Chi-! SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 7T—®— |cago Tribune, in a dispatch from'| Defense counsel promised to delve its Paris correspondent, today said | further today into the similarity, Soviet Russia is making "mbenslvei cayet “here. efforts” to prepare its Arctic reg- Luther Hess of Fairbanks has|; .o for o possible U. S. war. ‘ filed the challenge against the 1aw | oy, correspondent, Henry Wales, enacted by the 1949 Legislature.} oo ho'had obtained his infor- | His attorneys disputed the legality of the law on numerous grounds. mation from two escapees from forced labor projects in the urea. The law is the fourth by the| mpe principal points of Wales' 1949 Legislature to come under fire !, ..ount were: i i courts. Those previously chal-{ pmpe two majn military bases lenged were the income tax, fish|,.. newly-created cities, Vorkoutsk trap tax and fishermen’s licensing anq Tiksi, at the mouths of the acts. | Potshura and Lena Rivers. Other A large slice of anticipated reve- | ports have been developed a’ thé nue for the financially = hard- | mouths of the Dvina, Ob, Yenessei, pressed Territory will be at stake | Ingirka, and Amur Rivers. in the court battle. The Territorial|{ A strategic railway is being con- or difference, between naturaliza- tion of Harry Bridges and govern- ment witness Henry Schrimpf. The comparison began yesterday cduring the third day of cross- examination of Schrimpf at the perjury trial of Bridges, President of the CIO Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union. Bridges, a native of Australia, is accused of perjury for swearing during his naturalization proceed- ings in 1945 that he was never a Communist. Schrimpf, also a native of Aus- tralia, was naturalized in 1943. He 1 an admitted ex-Communist. He the Navy by the Military Air Trans- {retary of State Ackeson saic today port Service (MATS), the Navy|that the Army's wartime atomic said today. bomb project approved government A Navy spokesman here said the | licenses for the shipment of ur- | shift was made necessary by bud-|anium compound to Russia in 1943. | |get cuts and that the VR-5 Squad- In a news conference statement, {ron, operating from Sand Point)Acheson recalled that two'export Naval Air Station, Seattle, was be- | licenses were granted in rch, ing transferred to San Diego. 1943, and another in April, 143. In Half of the Squadron’s Alaskan!November, 1943, he said, a license flights were taken over by MATS|was granted by the Board of Ec- Dec. 1 and the balance will bejonomic Warfare for shipment of turned over Jan. 1. MATS will op-|1,000 grams of heavy water to the erate its Alaskan Service out of | Russians. | McChord Air Force Base, Tacoma,] “The lend-lease records now held Wash. oy the Department,” Acheson said, The Navy spokesman said #il|“show that none of these export fleet logistics support wings were | licenses was permitted without ap- dissolved on Dec. 1 and in the re-!proval of the Manhattan Engineer- organization personnel and equip-}ing District.” | ment placed under a new organi- The Manhattan Engineering Dis—i | year-old West Point graduate, died tat the home of his mother in Oak- PASSES AWAY Leader of -Famed "(Cast- ner's Cutthroafs” of Aleutians Dies ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Dec. 7— (#—The leader of the famed “Cast- ner’s Cutthroats” of the Aleutians| campaign died last night. Col. Lawrence V. Castner, 47-| land, Calif. He had been in ill health for some time. Castner gained his widest re- nown as head of the Alaska De- partment Combat Intelligence pla- zation, Fleet Logistics Air Wing. trict was the Army’s name for the The reorganization, the spokesman {agency that developed the atom said, “will materially reduce operat- ing personnel and aircraft” of the bomb. Acheson in effect denied charges| | Air Transport Service operated by |by former Air Force Major Georgé| thi0: NeTs Racey Jordan that secret State At Sand Point VR-5 Squadron i Department documents had been il- gally transported to Russia. toon during World War II, also known as the Alaska Scouts. It was composed of miners, fish- ermen, Natives and others who knew Alaska well, and picked up the nickname “Castner’s Cut- throats.” He never liked the nick- {will leave a small detachment of |le; planes and personnel for special serviceg. AllL four-engine [planes will be transferred to San Diego. ROUND-WORLD “The Department has no know- ledge,” he said, “that any depart- mental documents, secret or other- wise, were made available to the Soviet government without proper authorization, as alleged by Mr. Jordan.” | DOUBTS JORDAN STORY GREAT FALLS, Mont., Dec. T—(® —A man who was assigned to the Soviet purchasing commission dur- SPEED RECORD B, orld War II said today he NEW. ZUE - Dge. Bimpei :ix:gxbvuv if George Racey Jordan Lanphier, Jr., today finished wing-1., 0.." the inside of” Russian ing his way around the world by diplomatic baggage. scheduled airline flights in 13 min- | "2 5 inardt, Commander of utes less than five days. He estab-| , ~ local American Legion Post, lished 5 new pasmenges speed l'e’lhopped on a statement by Jordan pord; for- CUmIAFIMIE RiAEN that he exxamined contents of bag- Lanphier made the last lap eume bound to members of the Rus- his trip on an American Airlines;g., lend-lease and publishing plane. His landing at LaGuardia field came four 'days, 23 hours and 47 minutes after his takeoff last lpfldny. commission. Burkhardt, assigned to the Soviet s BRI L . A {Continued on Page 2) i name, insisting that the name be- lied the character of his well- trained. unit. His Alaska Scouts were scattered throughout the vast areas of west- ern Alaska and the Aleutians as the eyes and ears of the Army intelli- gence branch. Castner once commanded the; Chilkoot Barracks in southeast Al- aska when it was the U. 8. Army’s northernmost post. As a West Point undergraduate, | Castner was a member of the Uni- ted States Olympic Games dueling team. Castner was President of a whole- sale produce, seafood and cold storage business here, He is survived by his Widow.| qi4 there is a cloud on the tax-| Rachel, and two daughters by a| former marriage. FROM VANCOUVER T. Millos 0of Vancouver is re- Senate Finance Committee esti- mated, at the time of enactment, that the General Property Tax law —Alaska’s first on a Territory-wide | scope—would yield about $2,500,000 auring the biennium. The suit asks a preliminary in- junction to restrain at once the tax. It asks for a permanent in- junction after a final ruling on the validity of the act. Named as defendants in the suit are ‘Territorial Tax Officials, headed by Commissioner M. P. Mullaney, who aré¢ responsible for collecting the tax in the Fourth Division and in the city and school district of Fairbanks. ASKS TO VOID The suit asks the court to hold the tax law null and void. 1t is the first test of a tax law to be initiated in Fairbanks. criminatory. It attacks the provi sions as “vague, uncertain, indefi- nite and impossible of reconcilia- tion.” It also assails the law on the ground it fails,to provide for a uniform levy due to differences in assessments, valuations and meth- ods of making payments between the various taxing units covered under the act. It charges the assessments can- not be equalized for those living in different municipalities and school districts, and that differences con- tinue to exist as to liabilities and penalties for taxpayers living in and those living outside of muni- cipalities and regular taxing dis- tricts. o It alleges that until the: tax is payers’ property, subject to provi- sions which place them ‘in danger struc aikal to the structed £60¥ Lake Eglkal to volunteered the information yes- further collections of the pmper'y‘ Bering Sea opposite Alaska, but the Red Army is utilizing frozen rivers as its chief highways. Some 300 meteorological stations [have been established in the Arc- tic regions. Wales wrote: “This information and a detailed description of the operations were obtained from an eye witness who was sentenced to forced labor on Nova Zembla, but became ill and was evacuated to] Vorkoutsk whence he escaped :hrough the Irof Curtain to France. “Other information was given by a political prisoner employed on the project who fled from the con- centration camp.” He added, “from bases in Franz Josef Land, Dicksen Island, and terday that he was not asked if he had ever Leen a Communist; only, whether he was a Communist at the time of his naturalization. He said he was not. Records of Schrimpf’s naturaliza- tjon did not list any question con- cerning Communism. The records were produced yesterday only after the government unexpectedly drop- ped its objections to producing them. Throughout the morning session Federal Judge George Harris up- held government objections when defense attorney James MacInnis demanded the records to show “this witness is a liar.” Harris, who has already sentenced Spitzbergen, the Red Army plans! Hallinan to jail for contempt ot operations via northern Greenland | court, repeatedly cautioned Mac- to northern Canada within easy range of the United States.” The suit contends the tax is dis-| ® o 0 0 00 9 3 08 0 WEATHER REPORT Innis about his remarks. There was no explanation as to the difference in questions about Communism put to Schrimpf and Eridges at the naturalization hear- ings. Government Prosecutor F. Joseph Donchue said the form sub- mitted to Schrimpf in 1943 had been changed in 1941. Donohue said Bridges received the 1941 form at his 1945 hearing. He suggested some old forms were probably still used (This data s for 24-hour pe- riod ending 7:30 am. PST.) In Juneau—Maximum 39; minimum 33. At Airport—Maximum 36; minimum 32. FORECAST (Junesu and@ Vielnity) Cloudy with mixed snow and rain tonight and Thurs- day. Southeasterly winds as high as 25 miles per hour to- night decreasing Thursday. Lowest temperature tonight aBout 35. Highest Thursday near 38. PRECIPITATION (Past 24 nours ending 7:30 &.m. today City of Juneau—Trace; since Dec. 1—.11 inches; since July 1—48.88 inches. At Airport—Trace; e00e®® 00000 . . ° . . . B 4 o of a levy on personal property : until the obligation is met. since Dec. 1--43 inches; e since July 1—3355 inches. ®© 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 o 0 l gistered at the Gastineau Hotel (Continued on Page 2) f when Schrimpf became an Ameri- can citizen. Schrimpt, a longshore walking boss, has testified Bridges attended a number of high Communist coun~ cils during 1934 Pacific Coast mari- time strike. He has not testified Bridges was a Communist. HOT WORDS SPOKEN SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 7—(®— An angry government witness in the Harry Bridges perjury irial shouted today that the defense at- torney ought to be “behind bars” and the court immediately ordered a recess to “clear the atmosphere.” (Continued on Page 2) I {ities 40.24 ATOMS SENT RUSS IN 1943, GROVES TELLS Movies Shot as General | Talks-"Leakage” May Have Happened WASHINGTON, Dec. T7—(M—Lt. Gen. Leslie R. Groves testified to- day that Russia got some atomlc material from this country during the war, but he doesn't know how many shipments, “because we don’t know how many leaked through.” Groves told the House Un-Ameri- can Activities Committee that within a month after he took charge of the atomic bomb pro- ject in 1942 he knew personally that the “Russians were engaged in espionage on that project.” The committee is trying to find out about wartime atomic deals with the Russians and whether they were influenced by former Vice President Henry A. Wallace and the late Harry Hopkins, close friend and advisor to President Roosevelt, On the point of Soviet espionage, Groves said the approach always was made “through my subordi- nates.” Groves said the spying efforts he knew about were here in Washing- ton and not at Oak Ridge, Tenn., one of the main centers of the big atomic project, Wallace has denied that he aided the Russians in getting any atomic materials. Friends of have declared thiey feel did not. RULES JUNKED The hearing got underway nearly 15 minutes late with only two com- mitteemen present, Reps. Walter' (D-Pa) and Harrison (D-Va). The committee junked all its rules against movies, still pictures and radio coverage of its hearings. So the chamber was a hub-bub of cameramen, spectators and work- ing reporters. People were hanging everywhere out on the chandeliers. Groves, now retired from the Army, was wearing a powder blue suit, He told at the outset of taking tharge of the Manhattan (atom Jomb) project in September, 1942 and running it until January 1, Nt 1047, when it was turned over to the Atomic Energy Commission. Groves sald there was a “great deal of influence” and pressure put on'the lend-lease administration to give the “Soviets everything they sought.” ATOMS SHIPPED IN '43 But he said he didn't know who applied the pressure. Hopkins was the lend-lease ad~ ' ministrator. b - Groves sald the only shipment ot atomic material about which he knows was made in the late winter . or early spring of 1943. P He said he was unable to stop it o1 didn't do so because at the time it might have attracted “undue at- tention.” At that time, even the fact that the United States was working o atomic fission was a deep secret. The committee has received testimony from its own investiga- tors that there were at least three war time shipments of atomic ma- terials to the Soviets. As to the spying, the Ge! said the espionage efforts were di- rected by the Russian Embassy to- ward American laboratories. Efforts were made to get the atomic secret, he said, at Berkeley, Calif,, Chicago and New York City. “We .had enough evidence of espionage,” Groves sald, “to con~ vince any prudent man that espion- age was going on, that it was di- rected by the Russian embassy.” STOCK qu_flmnous NEW YORK, Dec. 7—Closing quo- tation of Alaska Juneau mine stock today is 3%, American Can 98%, Anaconda 28%, Cutriss-Wright 17, International Harvester 27%, Ken- necott 50%, New York Central 10 Northern Pacific 13%, U. 8. 26, Pound $2.80%. Sales today were 1,360,000 shares. Averages today are as follows: | industrials 194.21, rails 5088, utils |